#37 - Saving Private Ryan

Machine-gun fire rains down on soldiers as they struggle to make their way up Omaha Beach in "Saving Private Ryan".

REVIEW:

A bit of a "problem film" from Spielberg, one that I would argue is not among his best. Of course there is the brilliance of the Omaha Beach sequence, which altered the way war presented on film, and also, for better or worse (I would argue worse) led to the adoption of "shaky-cam" techniques for action sequences throughout Hollywood films of the 2000s. There are also the across-the-board excellent performances (a Spielberg staple), some unshakable scenes (Giovanni Ribisi's death scene is one of the most memorably heartwrenching in filmdom), and a final battle for a bridge that demonstrates Spielberg's unmatched chops at staging action sequences. But balanced against these strengths are the unbearably treacly bookend scenes, and a general sense that Spielberg doesn't quite have a moral handle on what he is trying to say. Yes, the film creates a new grammar in some of its best scenes, but very often Spielberg also falls back on his favoured John Fordian compositions, making us wonder whether or not he's falling into the old war film trap of making horrible combat seem like merely a rite of passage to determine men's character. The deus ex machina near the end of the movie is somewhat clumsily handled, and despite the fact that many scenes are gripping and compelling, in the end our hand closes on air when we attempt to discern the overall point of the movie. Still, plenty of great movies have been made without a point, and this is certainly a movie that amply demonstrates Spielberg's mastery of the medium. It also demonstrates, more than perhaps any film in his canon, the shortcomings that some of his harshest critics see. If you accept Saving Private Ryan as a compilation of well-executed scenes, it works. The moment one starts thinking about its implications and contradictions is where it begins to fall apart.

MY RATING:

73/100

WOULD IT BE IN MY TOP 250?

Close, but probably not.

WHY IS IT IN THE IMDB'S TOP 250?

Obviously the majority of audience members were more blown away by Spielberg's techniques, the overall numbing effect of the film's violence, and the general "war is hell" message. Those components of the film all blew me away as well, but it seems that the IMDB voters were more willing to forgive the contradictions (or worse, emptiness) in the film's moral stance and Spielberg's occasional reliance on sentiment and Time magazine compositions than I was. Saving Private Ryan is regarded as a war film classic, but disturbingly, it is in a way more an excellent war film than an excellent film about war. That distinction bothers me a tad, but clearly not most audience members.